3 The Commission on No Child Left Behind is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Spencer Foundation. This document is published to communicate the results of the Commission s work. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in the Commission s documents are entirely those of the author(s) and should not be attributed in any manner to the donors. Copyright 2007 by The Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute One Dupont Circle, NW Suite 700 Washington, DC Published in the United States of America in 2007 by The Aspen Institute All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America ISBN: X

4 Table of Contents List of Commissioners and Commission Staff 6 Acknowledgments 7 Foreword 9 Introduction: A New Day in American Education 11 Effective Teachers for All Students, Effective Principals for All Communities 29 Accelerating Progress and Closing Achievement Gaps Through Improved Accountability 55 Moving Beyond the Status Quo to Effective School Improvement and Student Options 79 Fair and Accurate Assessments of Student Progress 101 High Standards for Every Student in Every State 117 Ensuring High Schools Prepare Students for College and the Workplace 129 Driving Progress Through Reliable, Accurate Data 139 Additional Elements of a High-Achieving System 147 Addressing the Needs of English Language Learners 147 Strengthening Early Childhood Education 151 Improving Support for Migrant Students 154 A Call to Action 159 Summary of Recommendations 161 Recommendation Tables 170 Bibliography 205 Appendices 219 (A) Summary of Outreach and Research Activities 219 (B) List of Graphs and Charts 227 (C) Common Abbreviations Used 228 (D) Additional View 230

6 Acknowledgments The Commission would like to first thank our funders. Without their generous support of our work, we would not have been able to produce our recommendations after discussions with and comments from so many citizens, educators, policymakers and others across the country. Our funders including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Spencer Foundation are among the leading foundations in improving the quality of education in the United States. We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the Aspen Institute for providing a widely recognized and respected platform for this effort and for continuously supporting our work. Special thanks goes to Walter Isaacson, the President and CEO of the Institute, as well as Peter Reiling, Executive Vice President for Leadership and Policy Programs. The support of these two individuals in helping to form and nurture the Commission was essential to ensuring its effectiveness. Thanks also to Judy Wurtzel, Senior Fellow, for her work to support the Commission in its early stages. We would also be remiss if we did not thank all of the individuals who shared their No Child Left Behind (NCLB) experiences with the Commission during our public hearings, roundtables and school visits, during private meetings and conversations, and those who participated in our school and district profiles. The testimony, letters, s and general comments were essential to helping us understand how NCLB is affecting our schools and communities and enabled us to form our recommendations. Our efforts have been supported by an excellent staff to whom we owe our gratitude. Our hardworking staff includes Alex Nock, Director, whose leadership, policy expertise and management skills were invaluable; Gary Huggins, Director of Policy and Research, who spearheaded our policy development and helped ensure our report truly reflected all of the diverse views on the Commission; Jennifer W. Adams, Communications Director, who ensured the public and press were well-informed about our activities; Renata Uzzell, Research and Data Analyst, whose research and analysis skills were essential to our understanding of achievement in our nation; Erin Silliman, Administrative Assistant, who ensured our many public events went off without a hitch and that our Web site enabled thousands to communicate their ideas with us; and Jean Morra, Alexa Law and Stew Harris, who collectively ensured our Web broadcasts were well done and accessible to all. We would also like to thank Collaborative Communications Group staff and consultants, including Danica Petroshius, who provided seasoned advice and leadership; Beth Schuster, whose project management, research and writing led to a high-quality product; Robert Rothman, whose writing gave a voice to our recommendations; Bill Glover, whose designs brought visual life to our report; Ellen Parker, whose copy editing proved invaluable; Jessica Schwartz Hahn, whose communications support helped the public and press stay informed; Lori Meyer, whose research deepened our understanding of NCLB s impact; and Susanna Kemp, who provided valuable technical support.

7 Foreword We see evidence every day that we are letting our children down. We hear news stories about low reading scores for young children and teens; we see unconscionably high numbers of students dropping out of school; we hear business owners express frustration at their workers lack of skills and the costs of training them; and we spend millions annually on remedial courses for college freshmen. We cannot afford to sit idly by and hope that things will improve. We have a responsibility as a nation to take bold steps to close the achievement gaps that plague our nation s schools and to ensure that all students are properly prepared for successful and productive lives after high school. Failing to take sustained action will not only result in the continued tragedy of unfulfilled potential, but will also threaten our nation s economy and future competitiveness in the world. This year, Congress is scheduled to review the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). In 2002, this law signaled an important change in federal education policy by focusing on accountability for results rather than simple compliance and by seeking to set the performance bar high for all children, regardless of where they live. NCLB also provided data on student achievement, which has raised our awareness of the quality of education being provided to students across the country. Each of us is now more acutely aware that our future depends on more than just our own children. Our future economic success and security in the world depends on the success of all of the nation s children. Though the law set us on a more productive course and spurred some improvement, it has not been enough. Far too many children are still not achieving to high standards in every state, and we are not yet making improvements in struggling schools as effectively or as rapidly as we had hoped. The time is now to learn from the successes and struggles of the law and forge a stronger path to a better future. The nation has an important opportunity to move beyond NCLB in its current form and take the steps necessary to fulfill the promise of high achievement for all children. Last February, 15 leaders in education representing K 12 and higher education, school and school-system governance, civil rights and business came together to form the Commission on No Child Left Behind, a bipartisan, independent effort dedicated to improving NCLB. Although our members brought a variety of perspectives with them, we were united from the beginning in our commitment to the principles of the law to help every child become proficient and to eliminate persistent achievement gaps that have left too many students behind.

8 10 Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation s Children We were also in agreement that our recommendations would be informed by those who are affected by the law every day. Through the generous support of our funders and the Aspen Institute, we traveled across the country, listening to the stories and experiences of students, teachers, principals, parents, administrators, state and district officials, experts and policymakers. We held public hearings and roundtables, visited schools, wrote profiles of schools and districts, read thousands of comments submitted through our Web site, and researched and analyzed extensive amounts of data. We took our charge seriously. We researched. We listened. And we learned. Our efforts over the past year have helped us gain a deeper understanding of both the successes and the challenges of NCLB and how best to improve the law to ensure a quality education for all students. Our work has uncovered shortcomings in both the implementation of the statute and in some tenets of the law itself. But we also found that, regardless of how people feel about individual aspects of the law, they generally support its goals of requiring high standards, raising student achievement and closing achievement gaps. We have concluded that this nation cannot back away from continuing the effort of ensuring that all children achieve to high expectations. Our collective frustration with the pace of progress over the past five years has fueled our desire to do better. And to do better, the law must be dramatically improved. This report outlines our recommendations for establishing a high-achieving education system, one that includes teacher and principal quality and effectiveness, strong accountability, meaningful school improvement, high-quality student options, accurate assessments and truly high expectations for all students. Our recommendations are not vague goals or broad ideas. They are specific and actionable policy recommendations. They are defined and supported by research, data and the experiences of parents and the people who do the hard work in public education and are affected daily by NCLB. We are confident that, taken as a whole, our recommendations will close achievement gaps and raise expectations for all so that each child can be prepared to succeed in the future and the nation can remain preeminent in the world economy. It is in the spirit of maintaining the commitment to success for every child that we present our recommendations for improving NCLB to the President, Congress and the public. It is our hope that the public embraces these recommendations and uses them to spark an ongoing, nationwide discussion about improving education. It is our hope that Congress will use these recommendations as a blueprint for achieving a new day in American education. Together, with open minds and determined actions, we can fulfill the promise of high achievement and success for every student, in every school. Secretary Tommy G. Thompson and Governor Roy E. Barnes Co-Chairs, The Commission on No Child Left Behind

9 A New Day in American Education 11 effective teachers & principals improved accountability better school improvement and student options fair & accurate assessments high standards for all improved high schools reliable & accurate data additional elements A New Day in American Education America today faces a stark choice: do we take bold steps to accelerate progress in education and fulfill our promise to our nation s children? Or do we risk jeopardizing the future of our nation s children and our competitiveness in the global economy by maintaining the status quo? Unacceptable achievement gaps pervade our schools. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment reveals a troubling truth that African American 17-year-olds read at the same level as white 13-year-olds. The results for mathematics are just as disconcerting only 13 percent of African American and 19 percent of Hispanic 4th graders scored at or above the proficient level on NAEP mathematics tests, compared to 47 percent of their white peers (NCES 2005). The picture for students with disabilities and English language learners 1 is also alarming only 6 percent of 8th graders with disabilities scored at or above proficiency on NAEP reading assessments, compared with 33 percent of students without disabilities. Only 4 percent of English language learners in the 8th grade scored at or above proficiency on NAEP reading tests (NCES 2005). 1 Although the No Child Left Behind Act refers to limited English proficient students, we use the term English language learners throughout this report to refer to students whose first language is not English and who lack English proficiency.

10 12 Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation s Children We are also failing to ensure that our children are academically prepared to compete with their international peers. Students in other nations consistently outperform even our top students on international tests. In international comparisons of 15-year-olds performance in mathematics, American students scored significantly lower than their peers in 20 of the other 28 industrialized countries participating (Lemke et al. 2004). Contributing to this urgent picture is the fact that many students do not even finish high school. Students drop out of school at distressing rates 7,000 students every school day (Alliance for Excellent Education 2007). Worse yet, those who do make it to graduation are often left unprepared for life in an increasingly rigorous global economy. These are significant education challenges facing the nation today. Over the past five years, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has laid the groundwork for closing those achievement gaps and improving public schools. The law, which was passed by overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, had strong support from Republicans and Democrats, who agreed that standards, accountability, teacher quality and options for students were vital for improving student achievement, and that collaboration among the federal government, states and school districts based on results rather than simple compliance could bring about those improvements. More than any other federal education law in history, NCLB has affected families, classrooms and school districts throughout the country. Virtually every aspect of schooling from what is taught in elementary, middle and high school classes, to how teachers are hired, to how money is allocated has been affected by the statute. These changes appear deeply embedded. Regardless of their opinions about the law, many agree that if the law were to disappear tomorrow, American schools would remain fundamentally transformed. While these changes are substantial, they have not been enough. The problems that NCLB was intended to address remain. Achievement gaps between white students and racial and ethnic minorities and students with disabilities are still unconscionably large. Many schools with reputations for high quality are not educating all students, in all subject areas, to high standards. Expectations for too many students are not high enough to ensure that America can succeed and remain competitive in a global economy. We simply cannot afford to ignore the more than 1 million students who currently drop out of high school each year and the millions more who graduate without the skills needed to obtain good jobs or pursue postsecondary education. Raymond Simon, Deputy Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education

11 A New Day in American Education 13 All of this has spurred both strident opposition to and hardened support for the law. Numerous bills have been introduced in Congress to address difficulties in the law s implementation, as well as to make changes to its requirements and focus. NCLB, and the controversy and support it has generated, has sparked heated conversations around dinner tables, at school board meetings, in state legislatures and in courtrooms. Fortunately, the consensus that produced the impetus to pass NCLB remains a widespread commitment to closing achievement gaps and raising the academic achievement of all students. Although the extremes in the debate those who believe the law is nearly perfect and those who believe it is fatally flawed attract nearly all of the attention, most Americans continue to believe that the law s principles are moving us in the right direction. While our work has uncovered shortcomings in both implementation of the statute and some tenets of the law itself, we have concluded that this nation cannot back away from carrying on with this effort to ensure that all children achieve to high expectations. The challenge for the nation is to learn from NCLB and prior efforts and create a high-achieving education system that succeeds for every student, in every school. This system must ensure that children are academically proficient, are able to meet the demands of good citizenship and have a sense of self-worth and accomplishment that comes from a high-quality education and the opportunities it affords. We must close achievement gaps and raise achievement for all so that each child can be prepared to succeed in the future and the nation can remain preeminent in the world economy. Building a Foundation School improvement, of course, did not begin with NCLB. The law represented a logical progression in nearly two decades of reform that began with A Nation at Risk, the 1983 report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. In the wake of that report, virtually every state increased graduation requirements, added tests of student achievement and stepped up qualifications for teachers. By the late 1980s, state and national officials began to recognize that the reforms that had taken place were inadequate. While student achievement had improved, it was not high enough or widespread enough to meet the demands of citizenship and an increasingly competitive global economy. In response, policymakers and educators urged states and the federal government to set challenging standards for student performance and to require all students to meet those standards. To codify this demand, new national education goals, set in the wake of a historic education summit convened by President George H.W. Bush and attended by nearly all the nation s governors in 1989, called for all students to attain proficiency in challenging subject matter by the year 2000.

12 14 Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation s Children The effort to set standards for student performance gained considerable momentum with the passage of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994, which provided funding for states to develop standards and related assessments, and especially with the passage later that year of the Improving America s Schools Act (IASA), the 1994 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of IASA required states to set challenging standards for student performance, create assessments aligned with the standards and develop accountability systems that measured student performance against the standards. The law did not, however, require substantial interventions and sanctions to be applied to schools that chronically struggled to meet academic goals. These laws were controversial. Some states objected to the federal mandates, and there was considerable opposition to a proposed panel that would approve standards and assessments. Many states moved slowly to implement these laws or even actively resisted doing so. Not surprisingly, by the end of the 1990s, results from national and international assessments suggested that student achievement had not improved rapidly enough to ensure that all students would be proficient in the core subjects of reading and mathematics, nor were American students, as a group, competitive with their peers from other countries. Most disturbingly, achievement gaps that divided white students from African Americans and Hispanics remained substantial. In fact, these gaps, which narrowed in the 1980s, widened during the 1990s. According to NAEP, African American and Hispanic 12th graders were reading at the level of white 8th graders. Bolder steps would be needed to close those gaps and accelerate improvements in student learning. NCLB was a bold step. The law ramped up testing requirements, mandating annual assessments in reading and mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, called for reporting test results separated by race, ethnicity and other key demographic groups of students and required schools to demonstrate adequate yearly progress (AYP) on state tests overall and for each group of students. If schools could not demonstrate AYP, they first faced interventions followed by increasingly severe sanctions. Further, the law allowed students in schools that did not demonstrate sufficient progress to transfer to better-performing schools or receive tutoring, required states to ensure that every teacher was highly qualified and mandated detailed reports to parents on school performance and teacher quality. While these changes were substantial, they have not been enough. Unacceptable achievement levels continue to plague our schools. Our hearings around the country, our discussions and other interactions with people affected daily by NCLB and our research have shown us that this law, like others before it, is not perfect. While many problems can be attributed to implementation challenges, our work has revealed that statutory changes are also needed to improve the law itself.

13 A New Day in American Education 15 Commission Co-Chairs Roy Barnes and Tommy Thompson on the campus of Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Now is the time for another bold step, one that builds on the foundation of NCLB while addressing the shortcomings we have identified in the law and in its implementation. Having the benefit of hindsight, we can clearly view the consequences of the law, intended and unintended, that its original architects could not. We believe that the task at hand is to preserve the goals and foundational principles of this law by refining its approaches in ways that are informed by the five years of experience in classrooms, central offices and state houses since its passage. Only with such a careful effort to keep what works and improve what doesn t can we fulfill the worthy promise the architects of NCLB made to America s children. By creating a high-achieving education system that closes achievement gaps and raises expectations and performance for all students, America can ensure that all children have the opportunity for a fulfilling, productive future. This report lays out a vision for such a system, the steps the nation should take to get there and the changes in the law necessary to accomplish this task. NCLB: What We Have Achieved, What Challenges Remain One of the most significant effects of NCLB was to turn what many schools and districts had established as a goal that all children will learn into national policy. There has been wide agreement on this declaration of purpose among educators, parents, community members and public officials. NCLB put this goal into action by declaring that all children should reach a proficient level of academic achievement by In the words of the Koret Task Force on K 12 Education, a panel of education scholars convened by the Hoover Institute, NCLB s goal of ensuring proficiency for all students in reading and mathematics is audacious morally right and attainable. The task force also characterized the law as having the potential to improve public education more than any federal education initiative since Brown v. Board of Education, adding, Brown set the historic precedent for equality in education; NCLB could set the precedent for quality (Chubb 2005). There is also broad support for holding schools accountable for reaching that ambitious goal. As one parent from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, put it at a national

14 16 Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation s Children forum held by the Public Education Network (PEN), a national association of local education funds: Passing the buck cannot continue when it comes to our children. There should be no reason why our children are graduating without the necessary skills to be productive members of society, and far too many are (PEN 2006). The law has also had substantial effects on school practice. A report from the Center on Education Policy (CEP), a national advocacy organization for public education, concludes that these effects have been profound and far-reaching. The report states: [T]eaching and learning are changing as a result of NCLB. Administrators and teachers have made a concerted effort to align curriculum and instruction with state academic standards and assessments. Principals and teachers are also making better use of test data to adjust their teaching to address students individual and group needs. Many districts have become more prescriptive about what and how teachers are supposed to teach. Some districts encourage teachers to follow pacing guides that outline the material to be covered by different points in the school year, while others have hired instructional coaches to observe teachers teaching, demonstrate model lessons and give teachers feedback on ways to improve (Rentner et al. 2006). Although progress has been slow, there is growing evidence that NCLB is producing some results where it counts: in improved student achievement. According to NAEP, scores in mathematics increased nationwide for 4th and 8th graders from 2003 to 2005, and average scores improved for 4th graders in 31 states. Mathematics scores for African American and Hispanic students improved significantly during that period. In reading, the national average of 4th graders scores improved from 2003 to The achievement gap between white and African American and Hispanic 4th graders closed slightly during that period. Although these results come from the early years of NCLB and may have also been influenced by other factors, achievement trends are moving in the right direction (NCES 2005). State test results also show some improvement since NCLB has taken effect. A survey by CEP found that 78 percent of districts reported that scores on tests used for NCLB had risen from 2003 to 2005, and 35 states reported that scores improved in reading and 36 reported scores improved in mathematics. More than two-thirds of the states reported that in mathematics, test score gaps based on race/ethnicity, income, disability status or language background have narrowed or stayed the same (Rentner et al. 2006). However, despite these promising signs, there are also concerns that NCLB has not been enough to ensure that all students reach proficiency in reading and mathematics. The NAEP scores, while showing progress, have moved up only slightly, and reading achievement seems to have stalled. The number of schools eligible for the federal

17 A New Day in American Education 19 Title I program (see sidebox) that did not make AYP has risen, from 6,094 in school year to 9,028 in , which may suggest that increasing numbers of schools are struggling to bring all students to proficiency (Stullich et al. 2006). These numbers could also mean that NCLB is not adequately recognizing meaningful growth in student achievement numbers. More is needed to accelerate progress and to produce richer and more useful data on student performance. In addition, there are concerns that NCLB is having unintended consequences that might hinder improving student achievement. One commonly cited is that the law s assessment and reporting requirements have driven educators to simply teach to the test. Some claim that the highstakes nature of annual assessments has forced teachers to devote instructional time to drill-and-kill preparation, stifling creative learning. Concerns over unintended consequences have set off heated debates and, in some cases, legal and legislative action aimed at blocking the law from taking full effect. Some problems alleged to have been caused by NCLB have had nothing to do with the law. In one instance, in 2006, a hoax circulated falsely Title I Schools Title I, Part A, authorized under NCLB, provides financial assistance through states to districts and public schools with high numbers or percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children master challenging state academic content and meet student academic achievement standards. Districts target the Title I funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. Unless a participating school is operating a schoolwide program for poor children, the school must focus Title I services on children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet state academic standards. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of students from poor families are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs that serve all children in the school. Title I reaches about 12.5 million students. Funds may be used for children from preschool age to high school, but most of the students served (65 percent) are in grades 1 through 6; another 12 percent are in preschool and kindergarten programs. charging that the law required the state of Indiana to grant substandard certificates of completion, rather than diplomas, to students who failed to pass state tests. The U.S. Department of Education (U.S. DOE) took the unusual step of refuting the charge and urging people to ignore the . Critics have even used anecdotes to claim that NCLB is responsible for everything from a wave of principal retirements to an outbreak of head lice. (Some principals said they had been forced to let students with lice back into school earlier than they

18 20 Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation s Children Conflicting Goals in Utah Some states are actively challenging NCLB s reach over state policy and practice. In April 2005, the Utah legislature passed a bill that ordered Utah educators to provide first priority to meeting state goals when those goals conflict with NCLB. The bill also required educators to minimize the amount of state money they diverted to implement federal programs. In May 2005, Utah Governor John Huntsman signed the bill into law. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings warned in a letter to Utah Senator Orrin G. Hatch that depending on how the state were to implement the bill s provisions, the U.S. DOE might withhold $76 million of the $107 million that Utah receives in federal education money (Michigan Education Report 2005). otherwise might have to ensure that students took tests required under NCLB.) While some evidence supported some of these claims, others appeared unfounded. Nevertheless, they hardened opposition to the law. Some complaints have centered on the U.S. DOE s implementation of the law. As we document later in this report, only in the last two years has the U.S. DOE adequately focused on ensuring that NCLB s teacher quality provisions are being implemented by states. In addition, multiple, hard to access and sometimes contradictory versions of U.S. DOE guidance and regulations have made it difficult for districts and schools to comply with the law. Some have charged that this late focus on teacher quality and the confusion over some U.S. DOE guidance has hampered progress in implementing some of NCLB s key provisions. Other concerns stem from the way the law has been implemented by states, school districts and schools. For example, states have widely disbursed funds for professional development with little regard for effectiveness or content quality, rather than targeting these funds to the schools and teachers who need them most. Some schools have reacted to the law s focus on reading and mathematics by decreasing the amount of curriculum time devoted to the arts, social studies and other subjects. The law did not require either of these actions; they are the result of state, district and school implementation decisions. In addition, some states and districts have failed to carry out important parts of law that existed before NCLB. For instance, despite federal requirements for students with disabilities to be included in statewide assessments since 1997, some states have only recently begun to try to properly include those children in these assessments. NCLB, for its part, has provided little help to states with their continuing struggle to properly test these children despite the law s demands to hold schools accountable for their performance. Community members and others have charged that districts have done little or nothing to push plans to restructure schools that have been persistently low performing. They also claim that districts have thwarted public participation in the process even though

19 A New Day in American Education 21 the law clearly requires districts to include parents in such decisions. Similarly, parents have complained that, in some cases, districts have struggled or outright failed in making options, such as transferring to a higher-performing school or supplemental educational services (SES or free tutoring), available to all eligible children. Effective implementation of NCLB s provisions is essential to its success. Failure to carry out parts of the law has likely significantly affected progress toward achieving its goals of the law. Some complaints about NCLB, however, do reveal significant shortcomings in the law; others reveal a lack of clarity. As stated earlier, our work to understand the impact of NCLB revealed difficulties with the statute itself as well as the challenges of implementing the law at the federal, state or local levels. Conducting our work without bias, we discovered from our hearings and discussions with those who implement NCLB at the state and local levels, those who administer it from the U.S. DOE and those who passed this law in Congress, that problems with the law go beyond implementation. For example, the statutory provisions requiring all classrooms to be staffed with highly qualified teachers are laudable but do not go far enough to accomplish NCLB s ambitious goals. There needs to be recognition of the connection between teacher effectiveness and increased student performance as well as a stronger focus on ensuring teachers receive the supports and training necessary to be effective once they are in the classroom. The requirements for AYP in student achievement have not recognized that many schools have taken action resulting in significant improvement, even if they have not achieved this standard. In addition, NCLB s requirements have identified thousands of struggling schools, but these same requirements have done little to ensure these schools have the leadership, knowledge and tools necessary to improve. Most significantly, the fact that NCLB allows states to set their own standards has led to wide and unacceptable variations in expectations across states. Many states have not set standards high enough or they have chosen to set a low bar for what constitutes proficiency. We sought to understand how NCLB is working in our classrooms and how we can improve it to ensure all students achieve. Tommy Thompson, Commission Co-Chair

20 22 Beyond NCLB: Fulfilling the Promise to Our Nation s Children This report will address these statutory and implementation issues as well as other challenges. Our recommendations build on the foundation of NCLB and fill in those pieces that the Commission believes are needed to address shortcomings in the law and its implementation, as well as other necessary actions to produce a true highachieving education system for all children. The Commission on No Child Left Behind The Commission on No Child Left Behind was established by the foundations that have generously supported us and the Aspen Institute. Our charge was to move beyond heated and uninformed rhetoric about NCLB and examine the evidence about the law s effects in a dispassionate, nonpartisan process. The Commission has sought to determine what s working and what s not and how the law could be improved to ensure that it works for every child and every school. The Commission s co-chairs are former governors, one a Republican, one a Democrat. The Commission s remaining membership comprises 13 members who represent the full spectrum of interests in this law, including K 12 and higher education, school and school-system governance, civil rights and business. Although the Commission members came to the table from a variety of perspectives, we were united from the outset in our firm commitment to the goals of the law: to harness the power of standards, accountability and increased student options, so that every child becomes proficient in core subjects and to eliminate the achievement gaps that have left too many students behind. We were also united in our firm commitment that our recommendations would be informed by parents, educators, community members, policymakers and researchers from across the country. We went about our task in a bipartisan, evidence-based way. We held six formal public hearings in all parts of the country Pomona, California; Hartford, Connecticut; Atlanta, Georgia; Madison, Wisconsin; Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the District of Columbia where we heard from 46 witnesses, including state officials, superintendents, teachers, parents and their advocates, experts and Commissioners talk with students at Centennial Place Elementary School in Atlanta, Georgia.

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